


Would You Give Me Your Hand?

by Secret_Lullaby2 (Tomarry_omg)



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Slow Burn (kinda), Suspense, everything is fake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:55:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26939962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tomarry_omg/pseuds/Secret_Lullaby2
Summary: The moon doesn't exist. It's a hologram put there by beings unknown. One night it says 'ERROR 404' where the moon should be. Harry goes to tell his roommate but all he sees is a red glowing 'ERROR 404' hovering above where they should be sleeping. Although, the moon isn't the only thing that seems to be affected by this phenomena.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Kudos: 25





	Would You Give Me Your Hand?

**Author's Note:**

> This can also be found on fanfiction.net under the same username (Secret_Lullaby2) and same title. Also, I got this prompt from tumlr writing-prompt-s a while back and they're really cool so check them out.

It was approximately 8:00 PM when it happened. When the world that Harry had known his entire life turned upside-down.

It was a typical night like any other at Hogwarts University in the dorm rooms. Harry takes a break from the long-ass essay that Professor Snape, his chemistry professor, had assigned his class to rest his cramping hand. The professor has never liked Harry because of how much he resembles his father, James, what with his untamable black hair, circular wiry glass and lanky form. The only thing that seems to be different between him and his father are his bright, emerald green eyes in which Harry had inherited from his mother, Lily. People always say the same thing to him about how he "Looks just like his father, with his mother's eyes of course."

He's heard it over and over again and to be honest with himself, he's tired of being compared to people who he's never met like some hero. All he truly knows about his parents is that they were murdered when he was fifteen months old and before the murderer could get to him, the police scared them off, but not without knocking over his crib which led to the wood splintering and leaving him with this annoying lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He tries his best to keep it covered with his hair most of the time, but whenever the wind picks up or he moves his head to fast, people inevitably notice and recognize him as "The Boy-Who-Lived". Harry scoffs. He can't believe that they call him that just because some newspaper journalist decided that they wanted some fancy title for their telling of a brutal murder of a couple and their surviving child. 'Probably got a lot of money for that too' he thinks bitterly.

He brushes off the thoughts of his past and returns to the present to continue his inner tangent of complaints about his asshole of a professor, who apparently as he recently learned, was actually his mother's childhood friend before a fight between the two of them caused them to drift apart and probably just another reason for the bastard to hate him. He sighs once again and stares out the window for a moment to enjoy the slight breeze coming through it. He glances up and stares at the moon. That's when he does a quick retake and almost falls out of his chair as he rushes over to the window. Harry is quite embarrassed that the first words that came out of his mouth were,

"The Moon is broken" in a squeaky voice. As he stares he looks up and see in bright red digital letters across the moon, 'ERROR 404' exactly where he knows the moon should be. Why does he know where the moon should be you might ask? This would be because his astronomy Professor, and close friend of his parents', Professor Remus Lupin made his class memorize the entire Lunar cycle three times over so, yes, he knows where it should be thank you very much.

His roommate, Ron Weasley, fell asleep a while ago in his bunk across the room and as he's about to cross the room and tell him, this is when he sees the same thing lying directly above him. He's blurry, like a broken hologram and that's when Harry starts to panic. He slowly walks towards him to place his hand on his sleeping shoulder and jolts back immediately when instead of landing on his shoulder, it goes all the way through it.

He runs outside the dorm room, down the stairs, and outside to look up and everywhere around just to double check and make sure he's not crazy about the moon's "misplacement".

"Nope, still moonless" he mumbles to himself. He then start running around, trying to find someone else who can see what he found but instead of finding people, he only finds more and more of the hologram things with the same message every time 'ERROR 404'.

"I don't think I'll see that number the same ever again. I'll just skip it. Straight from 403 to 405, 404 don't exist anymore in my mind." he mutters to himself. He looks at the people that he called classmates and even some of the professors, all with the same message.

"HELLO? CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?" he cries out in a panic, hoping that somebody, anybody here is real. He doesn't know what he'd do If he was the only one left.

"Does this mean that my whole life was fabricated? Am I secretly a hologram too?" Harry pinches himself first.

"Oww." And then jab himself in the chest just to be sure

'OWW" Not the smartest Idea, he admits but at least he's almost completely convinced that he's real now. He jogs around campus pretty much everywhere, the Gryffindor dorms, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, even the Slytherin dorms which always seem to give him the chills.

'Why is it always so cold in there anyways?' he thinks to himself. Then he moves his trek to other places, like the great hall which is what the students had code named the giant cafeteria they have, and then to the kitchens, and then all of the classrooms and then the theater. Nothing. The only places he hasn't looked are the bathrooms (yikes), the Dean's Office (even more yikes), or the professors' quarters…

'That will probably get me killed if I'm not careful'. He starts with the Dean's office and doesn't find anything and then decides to bite the bullet and go to the professors' quarters because he believes that if anything, they'll be able to help in some way, shape, or form. He first goes to McGonagall the Anatomy Professor because hers are closest to the Dean's and the Gryffindor Dorms. He politely knocks on the door but doesn't hear anything moving.

"Hello? Professor McGonagall?" Harry calls out. But once again, nothing. This might seem slightly drastic, but that's when he decides the kick the door open since it was locked. Above where his professor lies, once again, is the dreaded message.

Such is the trend with every teacher he comes across from there on out, even Professor Snape and as much as Harry hates him, he can't help but feel a sense of sorrow to know that everything was fake. He's almost ready to give up while he trudges through all of the bathrooms. It's in one of the girl's bathrooms on the second level of the Slytherin dorms that he finally sees movement. He cautiously tiptoes his way into the bathroom

'Hope a girl isn't going to the bathroom or she is definitely going to beat me for being in there' he thinks, and turns the corner. Harry then finds himself face to face with none other than the goody-two-shoes of the Uni, his personal nemesis, and arsehole of the century, Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"YOU!"

"YOU!" They both say at the same time while pointing at each other. They seem to have a silent staring contest for a second before Harry finally decide to break the silence.

"Have you seen the messages?"

"The 'ERROR 404'?" Riddle asks.

"Yeah. They're everywhere; I was trying to find anyone who wasn't actually a hologram." Harry explains.

"Me too, have you checked the professors?" He asks.

"Yeah, broke into their rooms." Harry says casually. Riddle just looks at him incredulously and looks like he's about to say something but then second guesses it and remains silent once more. It's at this moment that he realizes that this is the first civil conversation that they'd ever had. He guesses that's what a pandemic can do to someone. Totally alters their brain.

"Did you find anyone else that was...well, alive I guess?" Harry asks awkwardly while scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Do you really think that I would be this surprised to see you if I had, Potter?" Riddle says with a blank look.

'Whelp there goes the civility, guess it was nice while it lasted. At least I can say that he started it.'

"Sorry, geeze just trying to see that we're not the only ones." Riddle looks at Harry with wide eyes and says,

"You haven't found anyone else?"

"Do you really think that would be this surprised to see you if I had, Riddle?" Harry parrots back his words while putting emphasis on his last name. He sneers at Harry and turns his back while starting to walk out of the bathroom.

"The moon's gone." Harry says trying to catch up with him. He stops for a second before turning to him and raises an eyebrow.

"Are you sure the moon's actually gone or is it just the clouds, I wouldn't put it past you to not know the difference". Harry wants to stomp his foot in anger but refrains himself before he  
looks even more like a child due to his short stature making him seem to tower over me.

'Damn his height, I'll never seem intimidating like this.'

"No, you bastard, I know it's not the clouds because one, it's a clear night, two Lupin made us memorize the entire lunar cycle so I know where the damn moon is supposed to be and it's not there, and three you're a fucking bastard!" Harry yells at him while counting them off on his fingers.

"What does the third one have to do with anything?" Riddle asks, amused.

"Just because I'd like to give you your daily reality check of how you're not so perfect like everyone thinks. I know exactly what you're really like and also you irritate the shit out of me every single time we meet!" Harry spits venomously. At first Riddle seemed amused but now he just seems to become annoyed at where this 'conversation' has gone and thus begins to pretend it never happened.

"Let's go find other people and I'll check out, this "missing moon" you so claim to have seen" he says this with great emphasis on the last part seemingly just to piss Harry off,  
he knows it. He doesn't rise to the bait, in which he is very proud of himself for, and just huffs and start to walk with him.

'There's no way in hell I'm going to make him think that I'm following him and make it look like he has any kind of authority over me.' So here Harry does his best to keep up with his long strides to keep at his side instead.

They retrace Harry's steps and when they come across the professors' quarters once more he looks at Harry unimpressed when he sees how all the doors have been kicked in.

"I mean, this is an emergency." Harry just shrugs and smiles sweetly. Riddle scoffs and shakes his head before they resume their walk. It has been hours and Harry's feet are exhausted before they've officially seen the entire campus, campus parking lot, and even some of the nearby restaurants. They stop by the nearby park and Harry plops onto the bench with no grace whatsoever while Riddle remains standing (how Harry has no idea). While he sits there in silence, contemplating life, Riddle looks deep in thought with his long fingers just under his chin and eyes staring pointedly at nothing.

"We're fucked." Is Harry's helpful contribution to this situation. Riddle looks at him and blandly.

"How eloquently put, Potter" he states. Riddle turns his head away from him once again while Harry ducks his head with a faint blush on his cheeks.

'Okay, maybe not the right thing to say' he thinks to himself. He doesn't exactly know where to go from here. This whole situation is just so confusing and leaves him, well us Harry supposes, with so many questions. The main one that just keeps reoccurring in his brain is,

'Is anything I know about me real?' Harry has a total overactive imagination and he will own up to that any day, but now he feels is the perfect time to put that baby into use…or maybe not.

"What if we're both asleep?" Harry muses aloud. Riddle doesn't so much as spare him a glance as he stands there in silence.

"Wait why would you of all people be the only one awake in my dream? Nuhuh." Harry quickly disregards the thought. Although now Riddle looks faintly amused judging by the small quirk of his lips Harry can see out of the corner of his eye. He decides that he wants nothing more than to either amuse him or annoy him to death so here it goes.

'Might as well start with the first outrageous thing that comes to mind and see where it goes from there.'

"What if we're all secretly robots and everyone else has just broken down? What if that means we're the alpha robots, well I'm definitely the alpha robot I guess I'll allow you to be a beta but only because you're awake." Now he goes from outright smirking to a small frown.

"I'm most definitely the alpha robot here Potter, you simply don't understand how utterly weak you appear in my eyes. Such an Omega." He finishes his sentence with mirth dancing in his eyes. Harry looks at him, insulted.

"Well we'll just have to assert our dominance to fight for the position of top alpha robot then, fight me bitch." Harry says as he stands up. That's when they both realize that Riddle actually brought merit to the idea of them possibly being human robots that had malfunctioned and were now having a metaphorical fight as to who the alpha robot would be. They look at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.

'I think this is the first time that I've ever seen Riddle do something more than smirk at everyone like he knows all of their secrets.' Just that thought is enough for Harry to stop laughing once he realizes once again who it is that he is actually with.

"I admit that it was amusing while it lasted, but we need to find out what is happening, and find a solution for it fast. We have class tomorrow and unlike some people I like to keep my grades and attendance clean." He looks pointedly at Harry.

"Well, I'm sorry Mr. I'm-so-perfect-I-have-had-straight-O's-my-entire-life-and-haven't-missed-a-single-day-of-school-and-is-also-a-total-teacher's-pet, but if you haven't already noticed, class isn't exactly possible when the teachers aren't even fucking real!" Harry ends with a jab of my finger at his chest. Honestly, how can he be thinking of school at a time like this? Just like Herm…Oh yeah. Harry's mood immediately deteriorates. Riddle seems to notice which led him to ask

"What's the matter? You were so riled up only a moment ago and now you look as if someone took your pet puppy." He said blatantly. Harry bristles not only to the comparison, puppies are amazing thank you, but also because it seems that he's pretending to actually care.

"What do you care, Riddle?" Harry spits halfheartedly at him. He feels too weak to fight right now because reality has just sunk in that all his friends may either be gone, or have never been real in the first place.

'Were they fabricated by someone or something else? We they always meant to befriend me and programmed to do so? Did they even like me? Did they even have feelings?'

"-tter? Harry?!" He looks up quickly at the call of his name.

"Yeah?" Riddle looks at Harry and for once he feels that he might see some genuine emotion behind his eyes although he can't quite determine what it is.

"What is wrong with you? You just zoned out and wouldn't snap out of it."

"Oh yeah, well you know, just a lot of thoughts going around up there." Harry says as he gestures towards his head.

"Somehow, I highly doubt that." Riddle says flatly. Harry feels as if he should begin to fire back but then feels all the fight leave him. He just feels too tired.

"Look, I don't want to fight right now, let's just figure whatever this is out and then we can go back to be enemies or something, okay?" Harry sighs. Riddle looks at him strangely again and Harry just sits back down on the bench and looks at the surrounding scenery. It's strange how it's been hours and yet neither the moon nor the sun has yet to make an appearance, despite how it should be morning already. Harry just tries to not think about that and feels the soft petals of the Aubergine flowers in the bush next to him. Riddle huffs and walks over. Harry didn't expect him to actually sit down, but that's exactly what Riddle did.

"Maybe we should just get some rest. It has to be morning by now, well if the sky was giving us the correct visions then that would be apparent but as for now we should stick to the feel of our biological clocks." Riddle says smartly. Harry just stares at him.

"Do you have to make everything sound like you read it out of a damn textbook?" He looks over, not even fazed at this point.

"Yes."

"Well, wasn't expecting that" Harry murmured.

"Anyway, you're right, I'm just gonna get some shuteye and hope that this will have been one giant nightmare." Harry lies back against the headboard of the bench and closes his eyes. Judging by the shift in weight to his right, Harry can only assume that Riddle has the same idea as him and both of them soon fall into the world of unconsciousness.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I have no idea how this was going to go or where this is going but at first I was only going to make this a one-shot but then I thought about it and was like there is no way they can develop a relationship that fast with their past. So, this will be a story but maybe just a two, maybe three-shot cause I don't want to take any more time away from my other stories that I have totally been neglecting (sorry to those who have read and/or are reading them). Either way, even though I love this ship to pieces, I don't think this is going to end up becoming a full on story. Maybe, some time in the future I will write a tomarry fic, but that's just me hoping so don't take my word for it! Adios people. (Oh, also I don't know if any of you noticed but I kind of changed my writing style a bit just for a change of pace, let me know if any of you who have read any of my other stories liked this better than the other ones. Thank you.


End file.
